Editing Poland (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Main|Names of Poland}}
The native [[Polish language|Polish]] name for Poland is {{lang|pl|Polska}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Wayne C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lttJEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22name%2Bpoland%2B%2522polska%2522%2Bderived%22&pg=PA322 |title=Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe 2020–2022 |date=2021 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-1-4758-5626-2 |location=Blue Ridge Summit |page=322 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=7 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240207011846/https://books.google.com/books?id=lttJEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA322&dq=%22name%2Bpoland%2B%2522polska%2522%2Bderived%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is believed that the name derives from the [[Polans (western)|Polans]], a [[West Slavs|West Slavic]] tribe who inhabited the [[Warta River]] basin of present-day [[Greater Poland]] region (6th–8th century CE).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lukowski |first1=Jerzy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpMxTvBuWHYC&dq=%22polanie%2Bpoland%2Bwarta%2Bhistory%22&pg=PA4 |title=A Concise History of Poland |last2=Zawadzki |first2=Hubert |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-55109-9 |location=Cambridge |page=4 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=4 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204080145/https://books.google.com/books?id=NpMxTvBuWHYC&pg=PA4&dq=%22polanie%2Bpoland%2Bwarta%2Bhistory%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> The tribe's name stems from the [[Proto-Slavic]] noun ''pole'' meaning field, which itself originates from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] word ''*pleh₂-'' indicating flatland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lehr-Spławiński |first=Tadeusz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjJHAAAAIAAJ&q=Je%25CC%25A8zyk%2Bpolski%2B:%2Bpochodzenie,%2Bpowstanie,%2Brozwo%25CC%2581j |title=Język polski. Pochodzenie, powstanie, rozwój |date=1978 |publisher=Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe |location=Warszawa (Warsaw) |page=64 |language=Polish |oclc=4307116 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724235955/https://books.google.com/books?id=EjJHAAAAIAAJ&q=Je%25CC%25A8zyk%2Bpolski%2B:%2Bpochodzenie,%2Bpowstanie,%2Brozwo%25CC%2581j |url-status=live }}</ref> The etymology alludes to the [[topography]] of the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potkański |first=Karol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b78eAAAAMAAJ&q=p%25C5%2582aska%2520wielkopolska%2520polanie |title=Pisma pośmiertne. Granice plemienia Polan |date=2004 |publisher=Polska Akademia Umiejętności |isbn=978-83-7063-411-7 |volume=1 |location=Kraków |page=423 |language=Polish |orig-date=1922 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724235906/https://books.google.com/books?id=b78eAAAAMAAJ&q=p%25C5%2582aska%2520wielkopolska%2520polanie |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Everett-Heath |first=John |title=The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names |date=2019 |publisher=University Press |isbn=978-0-19-190563-6 |location=Oxford |chapter=Poland (Polska) |author-link=John Everett-Heath |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufkFEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22poland%2Bfield%2Bpolanie%22&pg=PT1498 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=4 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204080136/https://books.google.com/books?id=ufkFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1498&dq=%22poland%2Bfield%2Bpolanie%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the [[Middle Ages]], the [[Latin]] form ''Polonia'' was widely used throughout Europe.<ref name="Buko 2014">{{Cite book |last=Buko |first=Andrzej |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VAOjBQAAQBAJ |title=Bodzia. A Late Viking-Age Elite Cemetery in Central Poland |date=2014 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-28132-5 |location=Leiden |pages=36, 62 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407051434/https://books.google.com/books?id=VAOjBQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The country's alternative archaic name is ''[[Lechia]]'' and its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notably [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], and [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hannan |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YmrlAAAAMAAJ&q=poland%2Bpersian%2Blithuanian%2Bhungarian%2Blechitic |title=Language and Identity in a West Slavic Borderland: The Case of Teschen Silesia |date=1994 |publisher=University of Texas |location=Austin |page=127 |oclc=35825118 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724235904/https://books.google.com/books?id=YmrlAAAAMAAJ&q=poland%2Bpersian%2Blithuanian%2Bhungarian%2Blechitic |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[exonym]] possibly derives from either [[Lech and Czech|Lech]], a legendary ruler of the [[Lechites]], or from the [[Lendians]], a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge of [[Lesser Poland]].<ref name="Dabrowski 2014">{{Cite book |last=Dabrowski |first=Patrice M. |url={{GBurl|id=X__-DwAAQBAJ}} |title=Poland. The First Thousand Years |date=2014 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-5740-2 |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamusella |first=Tomasz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spRUEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22lendians%2Blech%2Bpoland%22&pg=PA9 |title=Words in Space and Time: A Historical Atlas of Language Politics in Modern Central Europe |date=2022 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-386-418-0 |location=Budapest |page=9 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=4 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204080203/https://books.google.com/books?id=spRUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=%22lendians%2Blech%2Bpoland%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> The origin of the tribe's name lies in the [[Old Polish language|Old Polish]] word ''lęda'' (plain).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Małecki |first=Antoni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYwBAAAAMAAJ&q=Lechici%2Bw%2B%25C5%259Bwietle%2Bhistorycznej%2Bkrytyki |title=Lechici w świetle historycznej krytyki |date=1907 |publisher=Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich |isbn=978-83-65746-64-1 |location=Lwów (Lviv) |page=37 |language=Polish |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724235910/https://books.google.com/books?id=dYwBAAAAMAAJ&q=Lechici%2Bw%2B%25C5%259Bwietle%2Bhistorycznej%2Bkrytyki |url-status=live }}</ref> Initially, both names ''Lechia'' and ''Polonia'' were used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Andersson |first1=Theodore Murdock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lrdcDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22The%2BEarliest%2BIcelandic%2BChronicle%2Bof%2Bthe%2BNorwegian%2BKings%2B%25281030-1157%2529%2B2000%22&pg=PR4 |title=The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030–1157) |last2=Morkinskinna |first2=Ellen Gade |date=2000 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-3694-9 |location=Ithaca |page=471 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=4 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204080133/https://books.google.com/books?id=lrdcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR4&dq=%22The%2BEarliest%2BIcelandic%2BChronicle%2Bof%2Bthe%2BNorwegian%2BKings%2B%25281030-1157%2529%2B2000%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>